


All the roads you took came back to me

by andthestarsthatshine



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-06
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 09:16:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2264145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthestarsthatshine/pseuds/andthestarsthatshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'This isn't our history, Danny. This is someone else's.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is a prologue of sorts. And, yes, I'm being purposely vague ;)

Mindy had become a whirlwind of excitement in preparation for her wedding. Danny had found this amusing and even a little adorable at first. Then he started to get just a little bit irritated by it.

Then he did the unthinkable. He hid her Wedding Book. He was going to give it back...eventually. He just need that book not to be shoved in his face every five seconds. She had taken to barging into his office when he was with a patient or pouncing on him as soon as he came out of surgery or waking him up at 3am. Always with that infernal book.

There were only so many times he could say 'Mindy, I love you and I want you to be happy. You pick whatever you want.' (That was mostly to get her off his case - there was no way he would allow some teen boy band to play at his wedding. He had to draw the line somewhere.) 

Now Mindy went back and forth between being mad at him and acting contrite. This he could handle. 

* * *

One Friday, Danny had gone home earlier than usual in the hopes of spending some more time with his fiancée. Little did he know, she was still in the office, waiting for him to leave.

She was determined to find her book and she was sure the only place left to look was his office. She remembered the promise she made him when they first started their own practice; she was to let him have his privacy which meant not snooping around his desk drawers. 

Well, what he didn't know couldn't possibly hurt him, she reasoned. 

After a little searching, she found her book but she also found something she definitely wasn't expecting to find. 

* * *

When Mindy arrived home, she was still in a state of confusion. 

'Hey! Where have you been?' Danny inquired, as he stood up from where he was seated on the couch.

'Oh. Um, I was just...at the office.'

'But you're never there that-' he stopped when he noticed the Wedding Book tucked under her arm and knew she could only have found that in his office. 'Mindy! I thought we had an agreement!'

'Yeah. Sorry.' She didn't seem particularly sorry at all. She calmly made her way over to the kitchen island, gently placing the book down, and made her way to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water. Danny found her whole behaviour quite eerie. She was never like this. 

'Min? Is everything ok? Did something happen?' Danny stepped closer to her but felt too afraid to touch her, worried that she would take flight.

Instead of answering him, she slowly reached into her bag and pulled out a box.

'What's this?' Danny moved to get a clearer view of the box before the blood drained out of his face. 'Oh.'

Mindy looked up at him, confusion still clouding her features. 'I don't understand.'

'I can explain. It's a long story and I don't think you'll ever understand. But I can try to explain. I can try to make you understand.'

'I'm listening.'

 

 


	2. Oh take me back to the start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking a few liberties with the Danny/Mindy timeline so if you see anything that contradicts what we've learnt from the show - it's intentional ;)

Danny remembers quite clearly the first time he met Mindy. They were both still medical students and he spotted her in the library, bopping her head to whatever music she was playing. Her headphones, unfortunately, did nothing to contain the sound and he found the bass line to be quite distracting. So he went up to her and coughed to get her attention. He mentally smacked himself on the forehead.  _Of course she wouldn't be able to hear a cough over that loud music!_

'Excuse me,' he said. Still nothing. He repeated himself, louder this time, only to have another student shush him. He turned around to glare at the offending student before turning his attention back to Mindy. He thought for a moment before poking her shoulder. She jumped, clearly not realising he was even behind her, and slipped her headphones off.

'Oh my God! Who goes around poking people in the library!? Is this some sort of game? Are you joining a cult?'

Danny blinked slowly, staring at her in disbelief, his mouth forming an O. She's mad at  _him_?

'Hellooooo? Earth to tiny man! Look, I'm trying to study for a test here so if you don't mind...'

'I'm trying to study too!'

'Ok. Good for you. What are you doing here poking me then?'

'Your music...'

'My- have you ever talked to people before?'

Danny sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Your music is so loud that I can hear it. It's preventing me from studying. Could you turn it down?'

'Oh. Well. What's the magic word?'

'The ma- are you kidding me right now?!'

'If you want me to do something, you could at least ask nicely.'

'Listen, princess. Where I come from, we show a little consideration for others. We don't play our music so loud that it disturbs others. We don't sing along to Beronci in the middle of a library, where you're supposed to be silent. We don't use so many highlighters on one page that we cause everyone else to go blind!'

'Did you just say... _Beronci_? 

'What- yeah, I- were you even listening to anything else I had to say?!'

'Oh my God. It's _Beyonce_.'

'That's what I said.'

'No, you didn't.'

'Yes, I did.'

'Did not.'

'Did so.'

'Not.'

'YES I DID!' Danny's sudden exclamation caught the attention of all the other students in the library and his cheeks slowly tinged bright red. Just then a librarian walked over, wondering what all the commotion was about.

'Excuse me, sir, but could you keep it down? This is a silent study area.'

Danny looked at the librarian sheepishly. 'Yeah. Sorry. That wasn't my fault though. It was her fault.' He pointed at Mindy.

Mindy looked up in shock. 'Excuse me! I was sitting here quietly studying and this awful man comes up to me and pokes me and then-' she pauses for dramatic effect '-and then,  _he propositions me_!' _  
_

'WHAT?!' Danny couldn't believe his ears. 'I never!'

The librarian looked at Mindy sympathetically before turning to Danny. 'I'm going to have to ask you to leave. If this behaviour continues, you'll be permanently banned from this library.'

Danny opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it, instead turning around and packing up his things to leave. He saw the victorious smirk on Mindy's face as he left and scowled at her. 

* * *

The next time Danny saw Mindy was when he was quietly reading, sitting under a shady tree. She came up to him, looking a little nervous, fiddling with the ends of her hair. 

'Hey,' she said in a far softer voice than he thought she was capable of given their last encounter. He looked up and waited for her to continue.

'I was just gonna say I'm sorry. I mean, you did deserve but people are calling you names and that's not fair. It's not your fault you're a weirdo.'

Danny wondered if this girl had ever apologised before because she certainly wasn't very good at it now. He closed his book slowly and asked her 'What names have people been calling me exactly?'

'Uh, I don't know. The Med School Molester, the Columbia Creep, the Prince of Pervia, the-'

'Alright, alright. I get it.' 

'Look, you're probably going to be a brain surgeon or something anyway so I doubt it would affect you significantly, right?'

'Yeah, I don't want to be a brain surgeon.'

'Well what do you want to specialise in then?'

'Obstetrics and gynecology...'

'Oh.  _Oh no._ ' She looked penitent for about five seconds before descending into gales of laughter.

'I'm glad you find my reputation being sullied so amusing.'

'Oh I'm not laughing at you. Not really. I just- it's just really funny how these things happen, you know?'

'Yeah. Hilarious.' Danny got up, wiping the back of his jeans off and moving to walk away.

Mindy quickly grabbed his arm to stop him from moving any further. 'Ok, I'm sorry for ruining your reputation or whatever. I'll buy you a coffee to make up for it. How about it?'

_A coffee to make up for him being known as the campus pervert?!_ 'Uh, I don't know if-'

'Please. I really am sorry.' She looked at him in a way that made him want to give her everything and he couldn't understand how that was possible.

'Ok. I can't now. But you can owe me one.'

She smiled brightly up at him. 'Great!'

He gave her a quick quirk of the lips and walked away. 

'Hey! Wait! What's your name?' she shouted after him.

He turned around to face her, walking backwards as he yelled out at her. 'It's Danny. Danny Castellano.'

'Nice to meet you, Danny. I'm Mindy!'

Danny simply nodded at her as he turned back around and she was left staring at his retreating form. 

* * *

Coffee was all but forgotten about until three months later when they happened to meet again in class. 

Danny was the first to notice her, as she sat a few rows behind him laughing with one of her friends. The professor hadn't arrived yet so he figured he could say a quick hello. He stood up and got past the other students, making his way up the steps to where she was seated.

'Mindy?'

She turned her head at the sound of her name being called out. She looked for all the world annoyed at having someone interrupt her until recognition set in. 'Danny! Hi! I didn't know you were in this class!'

'I didn't know you were a med student. I'm surprised.'

Mindy's face went from being pleased to see him to mildly annoyed. 'Ok, that's rude.'

'No, I- I didn't mean it like- that's not what I meant to-'

'It's ok, Danny. I understand perfectly.'

'No, Mindy, I wasn't trying to-' he wanted to continue when the professor walked into the hall and called for silence, Danny mutely making his way back down to his seat. 

He waited patiently for the class to end before quickly catching Mindy before she left.

'Hey. Look, I didn't mean anything by what I said before. I was just surprised that we're both medical students and hadn't seen each other before.' He finished off with an apologetic shrug.

Mindy visibly relaxed once she was certain that he wasn't verbally attacking her. 'Oh. Ok. Sorry for jumping down your throat then. I just get a lot of people saying that I don't seem like the sort of person who could be a doctor so...'

'They're all idiots.' Danny said without thinking. 

Mindy's eyes widened a little before they softened. 'Thanks, Danny. Hey, I still owe you a coffee, you know?'

'Yeah you do.'

'Well, if you're free now...'

'Sure. Now's good.'

'Great. Let's go.' She smiled up at him before leading him out of the room.

 

 


End file.
